UPDATE Sunday morning with video: SNL saw the return of Larry David (again!) as Democratic presidential hopeful and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, in an opening sketch that recapped some of the, well, less momentous events of the past week in American politics.
Beck Bennett’s Jake Tapper of CNN started it off with Republican front-runner Donald Trump’s endorsement by ex-candidate Dr. Ben Carson. That gave Darrell Hammond as Trump and Jay Pharoah as Carson opportunity to make some hay: When Tapper reported that Carson had just been roughed up by Trumpers at the rally following their announcement, the camera cut back to Trump with Carson at the podium holding a raw steak over his right eye. “Guys! What did I say?” Trump barked. “Not this one! This is one of the good ones!” The line seemed to startle the studio audience with its unsubtle implication. (Guess they hadn’t been watching the actual news.)
Tapper also interviewed David’s Sanders in a hotel room, where the grumpy senator said that his appeal to people of all ages (“18, 19…”) was in part due to the fact that “I’ve got a lot of big ideas and absolutely no idea how to implement them.”
Ariana Grande was doubled as host and musical guest.
